Two Colorado Breweries are Creating a Unique New Beer from Fresh Snow

Collaboration Fest is an annual festival in Denver, Colorado that challenges pairs of breweries to work together on creating a unique new beer. As water accounts for up to 95% of beer, Little Machine Beer and Joyride Brewing joined forces to develop a beer made with fresh snow.

The original idea came stemmed from the concept of peak freshness. As Mike Dunkly of Little Machine describes: "We had this opportunity to work with fresh hops in February, which is super fun, and we’re just kind of thinking 'what’s the freshest way we can source the water?'"

Sourcing freshly fallen snow proved to be no easy feat and involved the use of a sled and 60-gallon drums—fortunately, as with all beer beverages created for Collaboration Fest, the breweries only needed to make enough for the one-off event.